Final Fantasy VI After All This Time

Since I’ve started tweeting site updates, I haven’t really updated this blog much. I’m going to experiment with some actual blogging rather than just using this for site updates. I recently decided to make a Final Fantasy VI guide. FF6 was my favorite game when I was younger, but it was also the game that made me decide to stop playing the same game over and over and branch out a bit. I have beaten it quite a few times. I’ve cheated on that promise a bit – I did play through the GBA release, for instance – but it’s been a very long time since I played FF6.

One of the interesting effects of not having played the game in so long is that I no longer know where it would sit in my Final Fantasy game rankings. I really love FF12, but that game is pretty flawed in the gameplay department, and I only really like half of FFXIII. (Well, two quarters of it – the first half of the story, and the second half of the gameplay.) FF9 might be a contender but it’s been even longer since I played that than FF6.

It will be interesting to see how I feel about the game now. My biggest worry is that the last time I played FF6, I really broke the game’s systems. My characters’ stats were ridiculous and nothing was even a challenge anymore. While many FF games are exploitable, the problem with FF6 is that using the mechanics at all (especially the Esper bonus stats) is basically exploiting them.

I have a lot to say about FF6 and how it fits into the series, and I’ll be blogging my observations and experiences while playing through this time to make the guide. It will be interesting for me to gather my thoughts on this game, and hopefully it will interest you as well.